Longwood University Athletics

With one of the most decorated resumes of any assistant coach in mid-major basketball, Marty McGillan has played a pivotal role in the resurgence of the Longwood men’s basketball program.
 
In the latest chapter of a coaching career that spans three decades, McGillan has been instrumental in helping Longwood vault into Big South contention under Griff Aldrich and now Ronnie Thomas since joining the program in May of 2018. His contributions have helped the Lancers reach new heights and achieve a bevy of firsts, including the program’s first two Big South tournament titles, two trips to the NCAA National Tournament, a Big South regular season title, a program record for wins at the Division I level and the best conference record since joining the Big South.

In 2023-24, Longwood won its second Big South Championship in three seasons to earn the program's second trip to the NCAA National Tournament. In addition, the team posted at least 20 wins for a third straight season, a program first. The team's 67 wins are the most in a three-year span in team history.

During the team's Big South tournament run, the Lancers knocked off Winthrop, top-seeded High Point and second-seeded UNC Asheville to claim the title. Big South Tournament MVP, and All-Big South Second Team selection, Walyn Napper led the squad, and he was flanked by All-Tournament selections Michael Christmas and Szymon Zapala. On Selection Sunday, the Lancers were announced as a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they faced No. 1 seed Houston.

Longwood had one of the top rebounding outfits in the nation. The Lancers ranked sixth in the nation in rebounding margin (+8.6) and 12th in offensive rebounds per game (13.4). In addition, the team had the top defense in the Big South, surrendering only 68.5 points per game.

The team had a 15-game winning streak that was the second-longest winning streak in program history during the season, and it was the nation's longest winning streak at the time it was snapped.
 
In 2022-23, the Lancers posted a strong follow up campaign to their championship season in 2021-22. Longwood notched a second straight 20-win campaign while finishing second in the Big South in the regular season. It was the first time in team history that the Lancers have won 20 games in back-to-back years, and the 46 wins over the two-year stretch are one shy of the team record.
 
Longwood boasted a defense that was one of the best in the Big South at forcing turnovers, and the Lancers also boasted one of the top turnover margins in the nation (40^th in the country). That led to Longwood ranking third in the Big South in points per game allowed.
 
In 2021-22, the Lancers claimed the Big South title on the strength of a 15-1 conference record while going 26-7 overall. Down the stretch, Longwood won 19 of its final 21 games, including three games in three days as the top seed in the Big South Tournament. The Lancers both advanced to the Big South championship game and won it for the first time. That set the stage for a matchup with No. 3 seed Tennessee in the opening round of the NCAA National Tournament, Longwood’s first appearance in March Madness.
 
The team’s record was the best record since the 1979-80 team went 28-3 on the way to making it to the Division III Final Four. In addition, the Lancers won 11 straight games overall, and 10 straight in Big South play, for one of the longest winning streaks in team history. It was the fourth time the team had won at least 10 games in a row.
 
Also during his tenure in Farmville, Longwood has racked up numerous signature victories, both in and out of conference, and recorded the program’s first-ever Division I postseason win. Over the past six seasons, the Lancers have amassed 109 wins for the winningest six-year stretch of the Division I era, received a bid to the 2019 and 2021 College Basketball Invitational tournaments and added another milestone when they knocked off Conference USA foe Southern Miss 90-68 in the first round of 2019 postseason tournament.
 
McGillan has a hand in every aspect of the Longwood program, from recruiting to scouting and player development. His experience spans 32 years at the Division I level, during which he has won more than 500 games as an assistant coach, won eight conference championships and helped six programs reach nine NCAA Tournaments.
 
Nearly all of that success has come at the mid-major level for McGillan, a Big South veteran who helped Winthrop win three Big South titles and reach three NCAA Tournaments in two separate stints from 2007-11 and 2012-17. As an assistant coach for those nine seasons, McGillan helped Winthrop post a 96-58 record in Big South play and reach the Big South Championship game six times, including in 2017 when the Eagles won the league and finished 26-7 with a 15-3 conference record.
 
A native of Silver Spring, Md., McGillan came to Longwood on the strength of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Big Dance with the Minnesota women’s basketball team in 2018 and the Winthrop men’s basketball program in 2017.
 
In 2017-18, McGillan helped the Minnesota women’s team to a 24-9 record and a third-place finish in the Big Ten, extending a run of three consecutive 20-wins seasons following the two he helped Winthrop put together in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
 
The success McGillan contributed to at Minnesota and Winthrop over the past decade is the continuation of a career’s worth of winning for the 1990 UNC Wilmington graduate. Including those two programs, McGillan has helped five different teams reach the NCAA Tournament, taking Wright State in 2007, UNC Wilmington in 2006 and 2003 and East Carolina in 1993.
 
McGillan has been a part of 11 20-win teams, and the latter half of his career has been marked by an even greater pattern of success. In the past 20 seasons, McGillan’s teams have finished above .500 14 times, won six conference titles and amassed a 402-298 (.574) record. Those accolades span four seasons at UNC Wilmington (2002-06), one at Wright State (2006-07), nine at Winthrop (2007-11, 2012-17), one at Kennesaw State (2011-12), one with the Minnesota women’s team (2017-18) in addition to his time at Longwood.
 
In addition to the wins and championships highlighting his career, McGillan has recruited and coached more than 60 players who went on to play professionally in the NBA, NBA Development League and overseas. He has coached several of the Big South’s best players of the past decade, including Big South Players of the Year Keon Johnson and Xavier Cooks, who won the conference’s top individual awards in 2017 and 2018.
 
A 1990 graduate of UNC Wilmington, McGillan has twice earned formal recognition for his success as an assistant coach. The first of those came in 2010 when FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goldman tapped the then-Winthrop assistant as the Big South’s top assistant, and the next came four years later when NextUpRecruits.com named him a top-three assistant in the conference.
 
McGillan received his B.A. in Parks and Recreation Management with a concentration in therapeutic recreation from UNC Wilmington. He is married to the former Tee Nagle, and the couple has two sons, Riley and Tate.